Micro ATX Build - Ordering Tomorrow

P

Phippsp

New Member
I've been planning on this build for a few weeks now waiting on tax return money. I went from AMD to Intel and now to a Micro ATX build. My reason for Micro ATX is to make the build small and easy to transport around.

My budget was $800 I fit comfortably inside of it.
I could of went with a i5-2500k and cheaper motherboard but decided to go the other way and get the pricier motherboard and just upgrade my CPU down the road. Which will probably be the i5-2500k and I will overclock it.
I do not desire SLI or CF so Micro ATX works perfect here.
Gaming/Graphic Design is the sole purpose of this machine.

So here it is! (click here)

I got some uneven feedback on the case I choose but it seems to be well made and plenty of cooling available. With some airflow reduction (Dremel) I think it would push plenty of air. Also I don't know if I could get a 200mm fan into the side mesh but I will investigate into that.

Thanks! The time has finally come to make this happen and just working on finalizing this build! Any thoughts and suggestions are highly welcome.

**EDIT**
I do have a PSU on hand that will work for this build.
 
Last edited:
Phippsp said:
I've been planning on this build for a few weeks now waiting on tax return money. I went from AMD to Intel and now to a Micro ATX build. My reason for Micro ATX is to make the build small and easy to transport around.

My budget was $800 I fit comfortably inside of it.
I could of went with a i5-2500k and cheaper motherboard but decided to go the other way and get the pricier motherboard and just upgrade my CPU down the road. Which will probably be the i5-2500k and I will overclock it.
I do not desire SLI or CF so Micro ATX works perfect here.
Gaming/Graphic Design is the sole purpose of this machine.

So here it is! (click here)
I got some uneven feedback on the case I choose but it seems to be well made and plenty of cooling available. With some airflow reduction (Dremel) I think it would push plenty of air. Also I don't know if I could get a 200mm fan into the side mesh but I will investigate into that.

Thanks! The time has finally come to make this happen and just working on finalizing this build! Any thoughts and suggestions are highly welcome.

**EDIT**
I do have a PSU on hand that will work for this build.
Click to expand...

its decent, not gonna be playing some new games on high settings or anything though but still decent and will play stuff prob on atleast medium setting
 
ATX really isn't much bigger, just taller, it's 12x9.6 v 9.6x9.6, it's just 2.4", and going with the asrock extreme4 will do just as good, and get way better performance combo'd with a 2500k, and is only 14 more

http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/94fbaeea#/94fbaeea/27

and should do fine on high on the newest games, just not ultra or anything on games like bf3

and what exactly is the psu? just to be safe.
 
Why would you say the AsRock would get better performance with a i5-2500k then the Asus mAtx board I have picked. Also not into a lot of the new games I got a PS3 for BF3. Games I would play is Eve Online and SHogun Total War II similar type games.
 
meant than the asus and i3, asrock is pretty good and like the 3rd best brand under gigabyte and asus, and with the combo, you get a slightly lower end mobo, and 2x the processor for 14 bucks now instead of selling that and loosing money to upgrade, but then again by the time you do that it's be the i5-3550k or whatever it is (ivy bridge, the newest ones coming out in like a month), but they only offer like 10% better performance (but considering their current power that'd actually be a lot more powerful), and a few less watts used.
 
I see what you are saying I was really confused on that link you sent extremely difficult to see and navigate. But that is a really good insight on that option. But I think I will stick with the Asus board and plan on a i5-2500k upgrade down the road and OC it. Depending on when I decide to upgrade maybe a Ivy Bridge will be in a good price range and worth wild to purchase. (Just my thought process). My PSU on hand is a older OCZ GSX 600 barely used. This will probably also be in the line of upgrades to come probably one of the first. But I do believe it has the ability to get this running.

I almost went with AsRock Extreme 3 / Gen 3 build with the i5-2500k. But since I decided to go with the Micro ATX build I switched it around and dropped the CPU down and went with the better MOBO in my opinion of course. Just for the reason the CPU is easier to upgrade later on then the MOBO.
 
That computer will be fine for gaming. The i3-2120 is a more than capable gaming CPU, and paired with a HD 6870, you'll be able to run most games at max settings. My i3-2100 and GTX 560 448 max out every game I play.

The motherboard may be overkill though, as the i3-2120 is not capable of a high overclock, so I would suggest looking for something cheaper, unless you plan to upgrade your processor to an unlocked cpu later on.

I would suggest this motherboard if you aren't planning on upgrading to an unlocked processor:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131711

Or if you wish to keep the Z68, go with this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131786
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top